Automatic inverter



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AUTOMATIC INVERTER Filed Feb. 16, 1954 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 United States Patent O AUTOMATIC INVERTER Willard B. Connell, Kansas City North, Mo., assigner to The J. B. Ehrsam & Sons Manufacturing Company, Enterprise, Kans., a corporation of Kansas Application February 16, 1954, Serial No. 410,593

3 Claims. (Cl. 19833) The present invention relates to an automatic inverter and specifically `to a machine for use in inverting sheets of plaster board, or the like.

In order to protect 'the finished surface of a sheet of plaster board material, it is preferable, when bundling together such sheets, to invert the uppermost sheet in a stack to expose `an unfinished surface on both sides of the stack. The size of the plaster board sheets, with which this invention is primarily concerned, makes it extremely difficult for the sheets to be inverted manually without marring or otherwise damaging the sheet material. lt is the primary yobject of this invention, therefore, to provide a machine for receiving and inverting a sheet of plaster board material, or the like, and to do so in a :completely automatic manner.

A further object is to provide, in such a machine, means for selectively inverting certain Sheets passing through 'the machine and for permitting yother sheets to pass through the machine without being inverted.

Another object is to provide, in such a machine, conveyor means for delivering the sheet material serially to the machine and means for preventing delivery of such material to the machine whenever the machine is not properly adjusted to receive the ma'terial.

Further objects of the invention will appear as the description proceeds.

To the accomplishment ofthe above and related objects, my invention may be embodied in `the form illus- `trated in the accompanying drawings, attention being called to the fact, however, that the drawings are illustrative only, and that change may be made in the specific construction illustrated and described so long as the scope ofthe appended claims is not violated. Fig. 1 is a plan view of my inverting machine;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary side elevation of the driving mechanism of the machine;

Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional View, taken substantially on line 3-3 of Fig. 2, `and showing further details of the driving mechanism of the machine;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view taken substantially on line 4 4 of Fig. l showing a detail of the sheet flow-control means `of the machine, 'and drawn to `an enlarged scale;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged sectional view through the selector switch constituting `a part of `the sheet flow-control mechanism of the machine;

Fig. 6 is a greatly enlarged sectional view, taken substantially on line 6-6 of Fig. l, and showing a detail of the sheet-supporting mechanism of the machine; and

Fig. 7 is a side elevation of the mechanism of Fig. 6.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, the inv-erting machine proper comprises a frame 10 having thereon a first plurality of roller means 11 journal-led for rotation about spaced, Asubstantially parallel axes lying in a substantially horizontal plane and constituting a first, sheetsupporting bed. A second plurality of roller means 12 is similarly supported on frame 10 `and journalled for rota- ICC tion about spaced, substantially parallel axes, preferably coaxial with the axes of roller means 11; the Iroller means 12 constitutinga second, sheet-supporting bed substantially coplanar with lthe 'bed of roller means 11. Roller means 11 are each provided with a sprocket 13 drivingly connected together by means of an endless chain 14. Roller means 12 are each similarly provided with 'a sprocket 15 drivingly connected together by means of an endless chain 15. Y

A shaft 16 is mounted on frame 1d in suitable ybearings and is journalled for rotation about an axis lying between the 'adjacent ends of roller means 11 and 12 and substantially in the planes of the beds of said roller means. nA plurality of rotor means 17 is fixed to shaft 16 for rotation therewith between certain of 'the -adjacent ones `of the roller means 11 and 12.

Each of such rotor means 17 (see Fig. 3) comprises a hub 18 fixed to shaft 16 and supporting a plurality of spoke members 19. Such spoke members are `arranged in pairs extending radially from hub 1S and spaced `apart slightly to form slots 2) between each of said pairs. As will be seen froman inspection of Fig. 3, the spoke pairs are so arranged, and lare of such a number, `that one of the slots 2% will register with the bed of roller means 11 at the `time when another of said slots is in registry with the bed `of the roller means 12. The slots in the adjacent rotor means 17 are, of cour-se, arranged `to lie in common planes including the axis of shaft 16. in order to lend rigidity to `the rotor means 17, l prefer to connect together the distal ends of the spoke members 19 by means of straps 21.

For the purpose of this invention, it is necessary that theshaft 16 be driven intermittently to move the slots 2l) from registry with the bed of roller means 11 upwardly and across `shaft 16 and into registry with the ybed of roller means 12, shaft 16 being caused to pause momentarily with diametrically opposite slots 2i) in yregistry With the beds of roller means 11 and 12. To this end I provide driving means, referred to generally by the reference numeral 22 (see Fig. 2), comprising a motor 23 drivingly connected through a speed reduction unit 24 to a shaft 25. A `single-revolution clutch 26 has one portion 27 fixed to shaft 25 `and the mating portion 28 free for rot-ation relative to said shaft. A Geneva driving train, referred to generally by Athe reference num'beral 29, has the wheel portion 36 iixed 'to shaft 16 and the pawl portion 31 drivingly connected `to the portion 28 of the clutch 26. The clutch 26 is here shown as being actuated 'by means of a magnetic uni-t 32. i

Upon energization of the unit 32, clutch 26 will be actuated and the pawl portion 31 of the Geneva drive 29 will be driven through one revolution. This will move the Geneva wheel 30 through a certain portion of a revolution, depending upon the number of slots 20 in the rotor means 17. In the illustrated embodiment, there are six such slots and, upon a single revolution of the Geneva drive, shaft 16 will be rotated through one-sixth revolution, moving slot 20a from its illustrated posi-tion in Fig. 3 `to the position 20b. Upon the next rotation of the Geneva drive, slot 20a will be moved to the position 20c, and upon a further rotation of the drive, slot 20a will be moved to the position 20d. Thus, three rotations of the Geneva drive 29 will move a slot 20 out of registry with the bed of roller means 11 and into registry with the bed of roller means 12.

The single revolution clutch 26 is actuated upon the closing of a switch 33supported near one end of the bed of roller means 11. Switch 33 is closed upon engagemen-t by a sheet of plaster board moving onto the bed of the roller means 11. As a sheet of such material is moved onto the bed of the roller means 1p1, it will enter into the slots then in registry with said bed and, upon closure of switch 33, the clutch 26 will be energized to move shaft 16 through one-sixth revolution lifting the sheet of material off the bed of roller means 11. After two more such actuations of clutch 26, that sheet will be deposited upon the bed of roller means 12 in an inverted position. Roller means 12 will then move the sheet to the right, as viewed in Fig. 1, off of the bed of roller means 12.

It is desirable that certain of the sheets moving onto the bed of the roller means 11 be permitted to pass through the slots 20 and off of said bed without being inverted onto the bed of roller means 12. To this end, I provide a manually operated switch 33 electrically connected in series with the switch 33 so that, upon opera-tion of switch 33', switch 33 will be inactivated. Closure of switch 33 will then fail to energize clutch 26 and the sheet of material will be permit-ted to move off of the bed of the roller means 11.

In order to deliver the sheet material automatically to the inverting machine, I provide a first conveyor 34 arranged with its output end adjacent the input end of the bed of the roller means 11. Such conveyor is here shown as comprising a plurality of roller means 35 each provided with a sprocket 36 drivingly connected together by means of an endless chain 37 and driven by some means not here shown. I prefer to drive the roller means 11 and 12 in synchronism with the roller means 35, and, to this end, I provide a shaft 38 constituting an extension of thc shaft of the roller means 35 nearest the bed of roller means 11. A sprocket 39 is fixed to one end of shaft 38 and the chain 15 Iis trained about said sprocket. A sprocket 40 is fixed to the opposite end of the shaft an-d the chain 14 is `trained about said sprocket to drive roller means 11.

It is essential, of course, that no sheet of material be delivered to the bed of the roller means 11 at any time when all of the slots 20 are out of registry with the bed of the roller means 11. Since the shee-t material will not always be properly spaced along the conveyor 34 to insure the arrival of such a sheet at the input end of the bed of roller means 11 at the correct time, it is necessary that some means be provided for holding back an approaching sheet until the slots 20 coL 1e into registry with the bed of the roller means 11 and the rotor means 17 are in a stationary condition. To this end, I provide stop means comprising a leaf member 43 fixed to a shaft 44 journalled -in the frame of conveyor 34 for swinging movement of one edge of lthe leaf into and out of the path of an approaching sheet. Motor means, such as the solenoid 45, is drivingly connected through a crank 46 to shaft 44. As here shown, the leaf 43 normally occupies a position out of the path of `an approaching sheet and is moved, upon energization of the solenoid into its illustrated dotted line position, shown in Fig. 4, to block the path of an approaching sheet of material. A switch 47 is ai ranged on conveyor 34 ahead of the stop leaf 43 for dominating the solenoid 45. A selector switch 48 (see Figs. 1, 3 and 5) has a sweep contact 49 fixed to shaft 16 and a plurality of fixed contacts electrically connected together. The selector switch is so adjusted that the sweep contact 49 will engage one of the stationary contacts 5t) at any time when there are no slots 20 in registry with the beds of the roller means 11 and 12. Switch 47 is normally open and its movable element 47 is arranged to be engaged by an approaching sheet to close the switch. Switch 47 is electrically connected in series with the selector switch 48. Upon closure of switch 47, assuming that certain of the slots 20 are then in registry with the beds of the roller means 11 and 12, contact 49 will be out of engagement with the stationary contacts 50 in selector switch 48, and the solenoid 45 will not be energized. The sheet will, therefore, pass over the stop leaf 43 and onto the bed of the roller means 11 into the slots 20 then in registry with said bed. Should the rotor means 17 be in movement at the time when a sheet closes switch 47, the sweep contact 49 will be 4in engagement with one of the stationary contacts 5t) in switch 48, and an energizing circuit for solenoid 45 will be established through switches 47 and 48 moving the leaf 43 into Ithe path of the approaching sheet of material. Movement of the sheet will, thereby, be arrested until movement of the rotor means 17 ceases with certain of the slots 20 in registry with `the bed of roller means 11. At that time, the energizing circuit for solenoid 45 will be broken, permitting the leaf 43 to move to its illustrated solid lline position in Fig. 4, and the sheet member will be released to move on toward =the bed ofthe roller means 11.

A second conveyor means 41 is arranged at the output cud of the bed of roller means 11 to receive those sheets of material which pass over said bed without being picked up by the rotor means 17 for movement to the bed of the roller means 12. A third such conveyor' means 42 is similarly arranged at Vthe `output end of the bed of the roller means 12 to receive those sheets which are inverted by the rotor means 17.

It is sometimes desirable tha-t a sheet of material approaching the bed of the roller means 11 be removed from conveyor 34 before Iit reaches the bed of the roller means 11. I prefer, therefore, to provide a manually operated switch 51 (see Fig. l) connected to energize solenoid 45 independently of switches 47 and 48 when ever it is desirable on the part of the operator to hold back any sheet moving toward the bed of the roller means 11 in order to facilitate removal of such sheet from conveyor 34.

ln order to protect the edges of the sheets `of material during their movement in the rotor means 17, l prefer to provide means for holding ythe sheets away from the hubs of said rotor means. To this end, I provide a carriage member 52 fixed to shaft 16 immediately ahead of each of the rotor means 17, and on the end of shaft 16 immediately ahead of the selector switch 48. Each carriage member 52 is provided with a plurality of antifriction rollers 53. There is one such roller for each of the slots 20 in the rotor means 17, and each roller is mounted for rotation upon an axis substantially normal to the spoke means 19 defining the respective slots Z0. The peripheries of the rollers 53 extend slightly beyond the peripheries of the hubs 18 and are, preferably, 'formed of a resilient, non-abrasive material such as rubber, or the like. Each sheet of material being 4inverted will, thereby, be supported throughout its length out of contact with the hubs 18.

VThe machine, as described7 makes it possible to do a job, heretofore performed almost entirely by hand, in a completely automatic manner. The use of the machine not only makes possible a substantial saving in time and labor, but results also in a substantial reduction in the percentage of damage to such sheet material which has heretofore resulted from the necessity of having to manipulate such material by hand.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a machine of the class described, the combination of a first conveyor means adapted to support a sheet of material and driven to move said sheet in one direcf tion, a second conveyor means arranged adjacent said Vfirst'conveyor means, a shaft mounted between the adjacent boundaries of said conveyor means, rotor means fixed on said shaft and provided with a plurality of slots each registrabl'e with the plane of said first conveyor means when said shaft is in one position, and registrable with the plane of said second conveyor means when said shaft is in another position, a sheet of such material be ing moved by said rst conveyor means into those slots then in registry therewith, motor means for intermittently driving said shaft to move said slots from their first-said position to their second-said position, means engageable by such a sheet as it is so movedinto said slots to actuate said motor means to lift such sheet off said first conveyor means and deposit it, in an inverted position, on said second conveyor means, said second conveyor means then moving said sheet out of said slots, and manually controllable means, cooperating with said means for actuating said motor means, for inactivating said motor-actuating means to prevent actuation of said motor means, as a sheet of such material is moved into the rotor slots, to permit said first conveyor to move said sheet through said slots in an uninverted position.

2. A machine for inverting sheet material comprising frame means, a shaft journalled on said frame means for rotation about a substantially horizontal axis near the median plane of said frame means, a first plurality of roller means journalled on said frame means on one side `of said shaft for rotation about spaced, substantially parallel axes substantially normal ,to the axis of said shaft, but spaced `downward therefrom, with said roller means tangent to a substantially horizontal plane including the axis of said shaft to provide a first bed, a second plurality of roller means journalled on said frame means on the opposite side of said shaft for rotation about spaced substantially parallel axes substantially normal to the axis of said shaft, but spaced downward therefrom, with said roller means tangent to said horizontal plane including the axis of said shaft to provide a second bed, a plurality of rotor means fixed to said shaft for rotation therewith between certain of said roller means, said rotor means each being formed to provide an equal number of radially extending slots opening through the periphery thereof, such slots of the adjacent rotor means being arranged in common planes including the axis of said shaft with -the slots in each of said common planes being adapted to register first with the plane of said first bed and then with the plane of said second bed, means for intermittently Idriving said shaft to move said slots in said common planes out of registnl with said first bed and into registry with said second bed, each rotor means comprising a hub fixed to said shaft, and a plurality of pairs of spoke means fixed to said hub and extending radially therefrom in a common plane substantially normal to said shaft, the spokes of each such pair being substantially parallel and spaced slightly ,to form said slots in said rotor means, a carriage for each of said rotor means fixed to said shaft adjacent said hub, said carriage supporting an anti-friction roller in the plane of each of the slots in said rotor means for rotation about an axis substantially normal to the spokes of the respective pairs, the periphery of each of said rollers extending radially beyond the periphery of said hub to support the edge of a sheet of such material.

3. A machine for inverting sheet material comprising frame means, a shaft journalled on said frame means for rotation about a substantially horizontal axis near the median plane of said frame means, a first plurality of roller means journalled on said frame means on one side ,6 of said shaft for rotation about spaced, substantially parallel axes substantially normal to the axis of said shaft, but spaced downward therefrom, with said roller means tangent to a substantially horizontal plane including the axis of said shaft to provide a first bed, a second plurality of roller means journalled on said frame means on the opposite side Iof said shaft for rotation about spaced substantially parallel axes substantially normal to the axis of said shaft, but spaced downward therefrom, with said roller means tangent to said horizontal plane including the axis of said shaft to provide a second bed, ra plurality of rotor means fixed to said shaft for rotation therewith between certain of said roller means, said rotor means each being formed to provide an equal number of radially extending slots opening through the periphery thereof, such slots of the adjacent rotor means being arranged in common planes including the axis of said shaft with the slots in each of said common planes being adapted to register first with the plane of said first bed and then with the plane of said second bed, means for intermittently driving said shaft to move said slots in said common planes out of registry with said first bed and into registry with said second bed, means for continuously driving the roller means of both beds in a common direction, switch means dominating said shaft-driving means and adapted to be engaged by the advancing sheet to activate said shaft-driving means, a first conveyor means arranged with its output end adjacent the input end of said first bed and adapted to move a sheet of such material onto the rollers of said first bed, a second conveyor means arranged with its input end adjacent the output end of said rst bed, and a third conveyor means arranged with its input end adjacent. the output end of said second bed to receive the inverted sheets of such material as they are moved out of said slots by the roller means of said second bed, and a manually controlled switch electrically connected in series with the said switch dominating said shaft-driving means, operation of said manually controlled switch acting to inactivate the rstsaid switch to permit said roller means of said first bed to move the sheet through said slots and onto said second conveyor means.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 912,764 Wintgens Feb. 16, 1907 1,039,202 Smead Sept. 24, 1912 1,053,632 Mulholland Feb. 18, 1913 1,901,928 Olson Mar. 21, 1933 1,970,749 Heichert Aug. 21, 1934 2,029,456 Zuber Feb. 4, 1936 2,641,371 Webster June 9, 1953 2,664,992 Bahney Jan. 5, 1954 2,762,487 Temple Sept. 11, 1956 

